The Proposal - Everlark
by Konzelwoman
Summary: Basically The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds but with Everlark. Credit to all involved with THG and The Proposal.


_AN: Credit to all involved with THG and The Proposal._

X-X-X

Peeta Mellark rolled over and opened his eyes to the soft morning light filtering through his blinds. He sighed with a smile, reveling at how rested he felt. He never felt like this when the alarm went off.

_Speaking of alarm_, he glanced up to his alarm clock on the bedside table, going still when he saw the blinking red "12:00" of a reset clock blinking back at him, almost mockingly. "No..." He muttered, rolling back to look at the ceiling, dragging his hand over his face. He looked at his phone, and upon seeing the actual time, sat straight up, "No, no, no, no!" His muttering growing in frustration with each  
>word.<p>

Jumping out of bed, he ran around his apartment looking for his clothes, and something to eat. As he was tightening his tie, his eyes landed on a bag of bagels. Sighing, he got one, stuck it in his mouth, and holding onto it with his teeth, threw his messenger bag on one shoulder, grabbed his keys, and wallet, and walked out the door.

_This day can only go up from here_, he thought, as he stepped out onto the streets of New York City, drool dripping down his chin from the bagel still clutched tightly between his teeth.

X-X-X

Katniss Everdeen woke up with the sunrise. _Old habits die hard_. She worked out on her elliptical in her apartment, going over a manuscript that had been sent to her as she pedaled. She ate a bowl of mini wheats as she continued over the manuscript.

Rinsing her bowl in the sink, and closing the manuscript after reading the last page, she hopped in the shower, taking her time in the relaxing hot water.

When she got out, she fussed over her face in the mirror, finally ending up with her hair in a tight, slick ponytail, and minimal makeup.

Checking her phone, she sighed when she saw the number of missed calls and texts from her frantic client.

Grabbing her briefcase, purse, and keys, she walked out the door and took the elevator down, walking right past the door man and out into her waiting town car, not even bothering to say hello to the driver before calling her frantic client.

X-X-X

Peeta walked into the coffee shop and groaned when he saw the mile long line, reaching up and tugging on his hair in frustration. Despite his agitation, he got in line like every other decent human being and waited.

He wasn't in line but for seconds when he heard a female voice call his name. "Peeta!" He looked around. "Peeta, up here!" He looked to the front and saw the usual barista, Cashmere waving him up with a nod of her head, and two cups of coffee in her hands, steam rising from the little vents in the lids.

He walked up to the front of the line, looking at people apologetically, and ignoring the annoyed protests. "Thank you," he said to Cashmere gratefully.

She smiled a sweet smile, batting her eyelashes. "No problem. You didn't come in at your normal time, so I just hoped for the best."

"Well, you're a life saver." He tried to hand her the money, but she pushed his hand back and just offered him the two cups instead. "It's on the house."

"Thank you," Peeta said again, relief evident in his tone as he shoved the money back into his pocket. "I owe you."

"We'll see," she smiled coyly.

Peeta walked out of the shop, a cup of coffee in each hand, and walked the last few blocks to work, noticing the time on a blinking sign across the street. He would make it. He smiled. The odds were definitely in his favor today.

He side stepped and avoided every collision he could as he entered the building, only to see the elevator doors closing. Making one last mad dash, he made it in, almost spilling the coffee, his messenger bag swinging behind him causing the doors to open again. "Everyone okay?" His coworkers only nodded or rolled their eyes, so he stared straight ahead at the closing doors. "Good. Me too."

The doors opened up onto his floor and he hurried toward the cubicles.

"Cutting it a little close, Peeta," the receptionist, Glimmer, said as he rushed past.

"It's just one of those mornings," he said, then turned to face her, still walking, but backwards. "And you know what? Thank you, Captain Obvious."

He turned around to walk forwards and ran right into somebody, smashing one of the cups of coffee all over his shirt.

"Argh!" He cried out. "Seriously, Beetee?" He looked up to see his friend chuckling.

"I'm sorry. Hey, I'll buy you another coffee."

"This one wasn't mine," Peeta said flatly.

Beetee's eyes went wide.

"Give me your shirt," Peeta said, as calmly as possible.

"What?"

"Give. Me. Your. Shirt." He bit every word, mostly from the sting of hot coffee, but it made his point.

"Are you serious?"

"Look, two tickets for any concert you want at Madison Square Garden, you have five seconds to decide. Fivefourthreetwoone time's up." Peeta ran his countdown together, looking anxiously over Beetee's shoulder at the doorway.

He and Beetee switched shirts and ties, right as his boss walked in on her phone. The office IM was going off at every computer, and people were snapping to attention as she walked by, trying to look busy. Peeta rolled his eyes. He knew what it said, he had stated the system. "It's here!" Oblivious, Katniss walked right past everyone and straight into her office, Peeta already in there, straightening his tie and holding her cup of coffee, the best smile he could muster on his face.

X-X-X

"Gale, people are busy, broke, and bored in this country, and they need someone they trust to say, 'Hey! Don't watch CSI Panem tonight! Read a book! Read Gale's book!' And that person is Caesar." Katniss mouthed a thank you to Peeta as he set the cup of coffee in front of her. "Good! Okay! Bye!" Her fake smile faded as she tossed her phone down on the desk, rifling through the pile of papers in front of her.

"Morning boss! You have a conference call in thirty minutes." Peeta said.

"Yes, about the marketing of the Snow books, I know." She was cold, almost distant, but that was normal for her.

"Staff meeting in nine."

"Did you call... Ugh, what's her name? The one with the obnoxious hair."

"Effie."

"Yes, Effie."

"Yes, I did call her and I told her if she doesn't get her manuscript in on time, you won't give her a release date. Also, your immigration lawyer called and said it's imperative tha-"

"Cancel the call, push the meeting to tomorrow, and keep the lawyer on the sheets. Oh. And have PR start drafting a press release. Gale is doing Caesar."

"Wow. Nicely done."

"If I want your praise I will ask for it."

Silence fell between them.

Katniss exhaled and finally took a sip of her drink, leaning back in her chair, and glancing at the cup, noticing a name and number scrawled on it in sharpie. "Who is Cashmere? And why does she want me to call her?" She turned the cup toward a bewildered looking Peeta, who's face fell when he saw it, looking like a kid in the corner.

"Well, that was originally my cup."

"And I'm drinking your coffee why?"

"Because your coffee spilled."

"So you drink unsweetened cinnamon light soy lattes." Katniss said flatly.

"I do." Katniss looked at him skeptically. He continued in a tone equally as dry as hers. "It's like Christmas in a cup."

"Is that a coincidence?" She would play along.

His sarcasm was begging to come through, but he tried to sound as truthful as possible. "Incredibly, it is. I mean, I wouldn't possibly drink the same coffee that you drink just in case yours spilled, that would be pathetic."

The phone on her desk rang, and he reached down to answer it, the same fake smile she had had on his face, but a little more relieved. "Morning! Miss Everdeen's office. Hi, Gloss."

Katniss held up a finger and nodded her head toward the door.

Peeta scowled in confusion. "Actually we're headed to your office right now. Yeah." He hung up the phone. "Why are we headed to Gloss' office?"

Katniss merely smiled a tight smile and looked at Peeta.

"Oh."

"Oh."

Peeta walked calmly out of the office, dashing once he was out the door to his computer, typing into the IM system, "THE MOCKINGJAY IS TAKING FLIGHT!" He hit send and peered over the top of his computer screen, making sure everyone assumed the position, joining Katniss' side as she left her office, coffee in hand.

"Have you read the manuscript I gave you?" He asked her.

"I read a few pages. I wasn't that impressed."

Peeta scoffed. "Can I say something?"

"No."

"I've read hundreds of manuscripts, and this is the only one I've ever given you. There's an incredible novel in there. The kind of novel you used to publish."

"Uh, wrong." Beetee walked in front of them in Peeta's coffee soaked shirt. "And I do think you order the same coffee as me, just in case you spill, which is, in fact, pathetic."

"Or impressive."

"I'd be impressed if you didn't spill it in the first place." They had reached Gloss' office. "Now remember, you're just a prop in here."

"I won't say a word." He opened the door for her as she cleared her throat and walked through, following behind her.

"Ah! If it isn't our fearless leader and her liege. Please, do come in!" Gloss' tone was dripping with sarcasm.

Katniss smiled. "Is that a new desk? It's beautiful."

"Well, it is a couple hundred years old, but yes it is new to my office."

Katniss chuckled but it sounded more like she was choking. "Witty. Gloss, I'm letting you go."

Gloss stopped fiddling with his computer and leveled his gaze at her. "Excuse me?"

Peeta bounced lightly on his toes and looked back and forth from speaker to speaker.

"I asked you several times to get Gale to do Caesar, and you didn't do it. You're fired."

Peeta heard a phone ring in the cubicles outside the office, and realized the door was still open, so he shut it gently.

Gloss seemed at a loss for words. "I have told you that is impossible. Gale hasn't done an interview in years."

Peeta covered his mouth with his hand, resting it there, feeling very uncomfortable. He still looked from person to person, but his eyes were wide.

"Well, that's funny because I just got off the phone with him and he said yes."

"Excuse me?"

"Did you even call him?"

"But-"

"I know, I know. Gale can be a little scary to deal with. For you. Now, I will give you two months to find another job, and then you can tell everyone that you resigned. Okay?"

She walked out of the office, Peeta close on her heels.

"What's his twenty?" She asked as they walked back toward her office.

Peeta looked over his shoulder. "He's moving. He has crazy eyes."

"Don't do it, Gloss. Don't do it," Katniss mumbled.

Gloss stepped out of his office and yelled, "You poisonous bitch!"

Katniss stopped, that same tight smile on her face, and turned to face him.

Peeta snuck off to the side.

"You can't fire me. You don't think I see what you're doing here? Sandbagging me on this Caesar thing just so you can look good to the board? Because you are threatened by me. And you are a monster."

"Gloss, stop," Katniss said, looking like it was a casual conversation.

"Just because you have no semblance of a life outside of this office you think that you can treat all of us like your own personal slaves. You know what? I feel sorry for you. Because you know what you're going to have on your deathbed? Nothing and no one."

Peeta screwed his eyes shut. This was not going to end well.

Katniss took a deep breath, still appearing calm. "Listen closely, Gloss. I didn't fire you because I feel threatened. No, I fired you because you're lazy, entitled, incompetent, and you spend more time cheating on your wife than you do in your office. And if you say another word, Peeta here is going to have you thrown out of the building, okay?"

Peeta raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Gloss raised his finger to say something but Katniss cut him off. "Another word and you are out of here with an armed escort. Peeta will film it on his little camera phone and will put it on that Internet site. What was it again?"

"YouTube?" Peeta asked.

"Exactly. Is that what you want?"

Gloss said nothing.

"Didn't think so. I have work to do." And she turned to go back to her office.

After they were a few steps away Katniss told Peeta, "Have security take his desk and put it in my conference room."

"Will do."

"And I need you around this weekend to help review his files and his manuscripts."

"This weekend?"

"You have a problem with that?" They stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"No, I... Just my grandma's ninetieth birthday. So I was gonna go home..."

Katniss continued into her office.

"It's fine. I'll cancel it. You're actually saving me from a weekend of misery, anyway. So it's... Good talk, yeah." He smiled at the empty space in front of him and went to his desk.

X-X-X

Peeta had his head ducked down as he spoke on the phone. "I know, I know... OK, tell Gammy I'm sorry. OK? What... Mom. What do you want me to tell you? She's making me work the weekend. No, I'm not... no. I've worked too hard for this promotion to throw it all away... I'm sure that Dad is pissed-"

He suddenly felt a presence beside his cubicle and saw Katniss out of the corner of his eye, so without missing a beat, he continued as he straightened up, "but we take all of our submissions around here seriously. We'll get back to you as soon as we can." And hung up.

"Was that your family?"

"Yes." He looked up at her.

"They tell you to quit?"

"Every single day." The phone rang. "Miss Everdeen's office. Yeah. OK. All right." He hung up again. "Coin and Heavensbee want to see you upstairs."

Katniss looked like she was weighing whether or not to go, slightly tilting her head from side to side. "OK. Come get me in ten minutes. We've got a lot to do."

He smiled a big fake smile. "Okey-doke."

X-X-X

Katniss walked into the office. "Good morning, Miss Everdeen," the receptionist greeted, but Katniss ignored her and walked right through into the office, not even bothering to knock.

"Alma, Plutarch," she greeted them, trying to appear cordial.

"Congratulations on the Caesar deal," Plutarch smiled at her.

"Yes, that's terrific news," Alma agreed.

Katniss tried to appear modest. "Thank you, thank you. This isn't about my second raise, is it?" She laughed at her own joke, the others seeming unphased. "Just kidding."

"Katniss, do you remember agreeing you wouldn't go to the Panem Book Fair due to the fact you weren't allowed out of the country while your visa application was being processed?" Plutarch asked her.

"Yes."

"And... You still went to Panem."

Katniss' confident demeanor was faltering. She felt herself scowling. "Yes. We were going to lose Trinket to Capitol. So... I really didn't have much of a choice, did I?"

"Seems the Government doesn't care who publishes Effie Trinket." Alma said dryly.

"We just spoke to your  
>immigration attorney." Plutarch went on.<p>

Katniss smiled. "Great. So, everything's good?"

"Katniss, your visa application has been denied." Alma said in the same dry tone.

"And you are being deported." Plutarch said hesitantly.

Katniss had to let it sink in a moment. "_Deported?_"

"And there was also something about paperwork you didn't fill out in time."

Katniss started laughing. "Come on. Come on! It's not like I'm even an immigrant! I'm from Canada, for crying out loud. There has to be... _Something_ we can do. Anything!"

"We can reapply, but unfortunately you have to leave the country for at least a year." Plutarch sounded less than enthused.

"OK. OK, well, that's not ideal, but I can... I can manage everything from the office in-"

"No." Alma cut her off.

"...with video conferencing, Internet." Katniss continued on as if nothing had happened.

"Unfortunately, if you're deported, you can't work for an American company." Alma was unmoving.

Plutarch smiled sadly. "Until this is resolved I'm going to turn operations over to Gloss."

Katniss' jaw dropped. "Gloss? As in the one I just fired?"

"We need an editor in chief. He is the only person who has enough experience." Alma was finally perking up.

"You cannot be serious. I beg of you."

"Katniss." Plutarch was pleading. "We are desperate to have you stay. If there is any way, any way at all we can make this work, we'll do it."

"There is no way... I am begging you."

"Sorry to interrupt." Katniss looked down at her watch, careful not to make it obvious. Peeta was right on time.

"Yes?" She asked him.

"Octavia from Mr. Cinna's office called. She's on the line."

"I know." She snapped.

Peeta seemed oblivious to the tension in the room. "She's on hold. She needs to speak with you. I told her you were otherwise engaged. She insisted, so... sorry."

Katniss whispered, "Come here."

Peeta raised his eyebrows but complied, rather stiffly.

Katniss gathered her thoughts. Clapping her hands together, she went on. "Sir, Ma'am, I understand. I understand the predicament that we are in. And... Well... I think there's something that you should know." She reached out and awkwardly wrapped her arm around Peeta, resting her hand on his arm as she smiled. "We're getting married."

Peeta looked down at her. "Who is getting married?"

Katniss giggled, but said through clenched teeth, "You and I."

Peeta spoke slowly. "You and I are getting married!" It dawned on him and he smiled. "Yes."

"We are." Katniss smiled.

"Getting married." Peeta repeated.

"We are getting married." She looked up at him.

"Yes." He looked down at her.

"Isn't he your secretary?" Plutarch asked.

"Assistant." Peeta was quick to correct.

"Executive... Assistant secretary. Titles. So, yeah. The truth is, you know, Peeta and I, we're..." She reached up to cup his cheek in her hand, but he was so much taller than her, it was a little awkward, so he leaned his head down into her hand, smiling. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Katniss continued, "...we are just two people who weren't meant to fall in love but we did. All those late nights at the office and weekend book fairs."

Peeta had a giddy smile. "Yeah..." _I hate my job_.

"Something happened." She continued.

"Something." Peeta agreed.

"Yeah. Tried to fight it and... Can't fight a..." She tried to grab his hand. "Can't fight..." After more fumbling Peeta just put his arm around her waist, pulling her close, nearly knocking the wind out of her. "Can't fight a love like ours, so... Are we good with this? Are you happy? Because, well, we are happy."

Peeta leaned his head to the side to rest on top of hers slowly, almost painfully slow, smiled, and said through clenched teeth, "So happy."

"Katniss." Plutarch was stoic.

"Yes?" Katniss squeaked out.

Plutarch smiled. "It's terrific. Just make it legal."

"Well, then that means we..." She reached up and tweaked Peeta's nose, making him laugh but pinch her side as he whispered, "Ow!" "...we need to get ourselves to the immigration office. So we can iron out this whole mess. Thank you very much. We will do that right away."

As soon as they were back in the hallway, they separated quicker than lightning. When they got back to their floor, people were already whispering.

"Katniss and Peeta are getting married!"

"Married? Didn't even know they were dating."

Peeta loosened his tie and closed Katniss office door behind him. He stared into the back of her head.

"What?" She finally asked.

"I don't understand what's happening."

"Calm down. You get something out of this, too"

"Oh. Please do explain."

"They were going to make Gloss the boss." She snorted at her own pun.

"Oh. So, naturally I would have to marry you?"

"What's the big deal? You saving yourself for a special someone?"

"I like to think so. Besides, this is illegal."

"They're looking for murderers, not book publishers."

"Katniss." Peeta's tone was flat.

"Yes?"

"I'm not gonna marry you."

"Sure you are. Because if you don't, your dreams of touching the lives of millions with the written word are dead. Gloss will fire you the second I'm gone. Guaranteed. That means you're out on the street looking for a job. That means the time that we spent together, the lattes, the cancelled dates, the midnight Tampax runs, were all for nothing and all your dreams of being an editor are gone."

Peeta just stared at her.

"Don't worry, after the required time, we'll get divorced and you'll be done with me. But until then, like it or not, we are star crossed lovers. Real or not real. OK?"

The phone on her desk started ringing. Once. Twice. Three times. Katniss pointed to it mere inches from her fingertips. "Peeta. Phone."

X-X-X

As they walked into the immigration office later that day, Katniss motioned Peeta up to the front with her. "This way." She said matter of fact.

"Katniss." Peeta's tone was warning.

"Come here." Was all she said.

Peeta pointed behind them at the angry faces. "That's the line."

"Next, please." The woman behind the counter said, her tone grating.

Cutting in front of the person next in line, Katniss smiled and said, "Sorry, I need to ask her something." Then turning to the woman behind the counter, "I need for you to file this fiancée visa for me, please." And she pushed the paper through the little slot.

After waiting for what seemed like hours to Peeta, they heard her name be called, and they were led back to an office.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Peeta muttered into Katniss' ear as he trailed behind her.

They both greeted the man behind the desk in the office, shaking his hand in turn.

"Hi. I'm Mr. Abernathy. And you must be Peeta, and you must be..."

"Katniss." She smiled, despite the heavy wave of alcohol coming off of his breath with every output of air.

"Katniss, that's a... Unique name. Well, anyhow... Sorry about the wait. It's a crazy day today. If you hadn't waited until this time of day to come, you would have seen a blood bath."

"Of course, no problem."

"We understand." Peeta smiled as best he could, trying to appear the doting fiancé and taking Katniss' hand in his. "I can't tell you how much we appreciate you seeing us on such short notice."

Mr. Abernathy smiled a grin that was a little too large for comfort. "Well, just prepare for the likelihood of your immanent death." They stared blankly at him until he burst out laughing, and they chuckled nervously along. "Nah, I'm just kidding with you. Office humor. But getting down to business, I have one question for you. Are you both committing fraud to avoid her deportation so she can keep her position at Victor Publishers?

Katniss choked but turned it into a laugh of sorts. "That's ridiculous."

"Where did you hear that?" Peeta sounded a bit worried, but wore a face that showed anything but.

"We had a phone tip this afternoon from a man, oh, what's his name..."

Katniss smiled. "Would it be Gloss?"

"Gloss." Haymitch leveled his skeptical gaze on her.

"Gloss. Poor Gloss. I am so sorry. He is nothing but a disgruntled former employee. And I apologize. But we know you're incredibly busy with a room full of people to attend to. If you just give us our next step, we will be out of your hair and on our way." She was starting to stand up, and put her purse on her shoulder.

"Miss Everdeen, please." Mr. Abernathy motioned her to sit again, and she complied.

Folding his hands together, and resting his forearms on the desk, he leaned in towards them as he spoke. "Let me explain to you the process that's about to start. First off, there will be a scheduled interview where I'll put each of you in a room, and I'll ask you every little question that a real couple should and would know about each other. Next, I dig deeper. I look at your phone records, I talk to your neighbours, I interview your co-workers. If your answers don't match up at every point, you," he pointed at Katniss "will be deported indefinitely. And you," he swiveled over so his finger was pointing at Peeta, "young man, will have committed a felony punishable by a fine of $250,000, and five years behind bars. So, Peeta." He leaned in closer, popping the 'a' in his name. "You want to talk to me? Tell me something?"

Peeta gulped. "Yes? The truth is... Mr. Abernathy, Katniss and I..." Katniss squeezed his hand so hard he had to keep from wincing. "...are just two people who weren't supposed to fall in love. But did." Katniss looked up at him adoringly, squeezing his hand as he spoke slowly, stumbling on words. So he looked at her, smiled, and continued. "We couldn't tell anyone we work with because of my big promotion that I had coming up."

"Promotion?" Katniss and Mr. Abernathy said in unison.

Peeta kept smiling. "Yeah. We felt that it would be deeply inappropriate, if I were to be promoted to editor..."

"Editor." Katniss hissed through her smile.

"...while we were..."

Mr. Abernathy looked between the two, then changed the subject. "Have either of you told your parents about your secret love?"

"Oh, I... impossible." Katniss scoffed. Then, with a softer, more vulnerable tone, "My parents are dead."

"No brothers or sisters either?"

"Not anymore," Katniss said once again in that small, vulnerable voice. Peeta looked at her with awe. He had never seen her show this emotion.

"Are your parents dead?" Mr. Abernathy. Immigration. Lying. Right.

"No, his are very much alive." Katniss looked relieved for the change in subject.

"No, very much." Peeta quietly confirmed. "Very much. In fact, we were gonna tell them this weekend. Gammy's 90th birthday, the whole family's coming together. We thought it'd be a nice idea."

"Where is this _idea_ taking place?"

"At Peeta's parents' house." Katniss said as if it were obvious.

"Where is that located again?" Mr. Abernathy raised his eyebrows.

After a moment of hesitation, Katniss differed to Peeta. "Why am I doing all the talking? It's your parents' house. Why don't you tell him where it is."

"Sitka."

"Sitka." Katniss smiled proudly.

"Alaska."

"Alaska?" She turned to him in surprise, drawing out the word.

"You two kids are going to Alaska this weekend?"

"Sure are." Peeta sounded like he had been hit with a car, but smiled none the less.

Katniss was still a little taken aback. "That's right. We are going to Alaska. Alaska, that's where..." She tried to take his hand, "That's where my little..." He pulled it away from her so she lightly patted his knee. "That's where my sweet Peeta's from."

"Sure. I see how this is gonna go. I will see you both at 11:00 Monday morning for your scheduled interview, and your answers better match up on every level."

"Thank you. We're looking forward to it." Peeta shook his hand. "It'll be fun."

"I'll be checking up on you." Mr. Abernathy reiterated.

"No problem."

X-X-X

Katniss was texting as they both exited the building, but was still talking to Peeta a mile a minute.

"So, what's gonna happen is we will go up there, to _Sitka_. We'll pretend we're a couple, tell your parents we're engaged. Oh! Use the miles for the tickets. I guess I will pop for you to fly first class. But make sure you use the miles. If we don't get the miles, we're not doing it. And please confirm the vegan meal. Last time they actually gave it to a vegan, and they forced me to eat this clammy, warm, creamy salad thing, and it was..." She looked up and saw Peeta several paces behind her, staring up at the sky, hands deep in his pockets. She walked back to him. "Hey, I'm talking to you...Why aren't you taking notes?"

"I'm sorry," Peeta said sarcastically, then looking down at her, "were you not in that room?"

"What, do you have the memory of a goldfish? The thing you said about being promoted? Brilliant! Mr. Whiskey breath completely fell for it." She went back to texting.

"I was serious." Peeta's tone was still flat. She looked up at him. "I'm looking at a massive fine and five years in jail. That changes things."

"So, naturally I promote you to editor?" She said, mocking his statement from earlier in the day. "No, not gonna happen."

Peeta smiled a smug smile. "Then I quit, and you're screwed. Buh-bye, Katniss." And with that, he turned on his heel and started walking away.

"Peeta!" She called, trying to keep up with him in her pencil skit and heels.

"It's really been a slice of heaven." He called over his shoulder.

"Peeta, Peeta! Fine, fine." She stopped running and yelled, and he stopped in his tracks. "I'll make you editor. Geeze. If you do this weekend and the interview, I will make the dream that you wish come true. Alright?"

Peeta turned around and looked down at her. "And not in two years. Right away."

She smiled a sickly sweet smile. "Of course."

"And you'll publish my manuscript."

Her smile grew more natural. "Ten thousand copies fir-"

"Twenty thousand copies, first run." Katniss simply nodded. "We'll tell my family about our engagement when and how I want." She nodded again. "Now, ask me nicely."

"'Ask you nicely' what?" Katniss scowled in confusion.

"Ask me nicely to marry you, Katniss."

"Are you serious?"

"You heard me. On your knee."

"Fine." She tried to lower herself, but he had to hold one hand to help ease her down onto both knees in her tight skirt.

"Does this work for you?" She said sarcastically, looking up at him.

"You have no idea."

Katniss cleared her throat. "Will you marry me?" She mumbled.

"No." She looked up at him confused. "Say it like you mean it."

She rolled her eyes, looked down, then back up at him, batting her eyelashes. "Peeta?"

"Yes, Katniss?"

"Darling Peeta?"

His smile just grew. "I'm all ears."

"Would you please, with cheese on top, marry me?"

He tossed his head from side to side as if weighing the decision. "OK. I don't appreciate the sarcasm, but I'll do it. See you at the airport tomorrow." He started to walk away.

"Good." Katniss tried to stand up but her skirt was too tight. "Peeta?" she called. He kept walking, raising a hand to acknowledge that he heard her. "Peeta!"


End file.
